Thanks to Uncle Joe, I had To Look Up "Shylock"

Usury is the payment of interest on a loan by [a] borrower to [a] lender. The two biblical passages which forbid the taking of interest are:

“If you lend money to any of My people, even to the poor with thee, thou shalt not be to him as a creditor; neither shalt thou lay upon him interest” (Exodus 22:24).

“Thou shalt not lend upon interest to thy brother: interest of money, interest of victuals, interest of anything that is lent upon interest. Unto a foreigner thou mayest lend upon interest; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon interest; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all that thou puttest thy hand into, in the land whither thou goest in to possess it” (Deuteronomy 23:20-21).

The meaning of these verses is clear. In an agrarian society a loan to a poor man to tide him over, for instance, until the harvest or to help him buy farming instruments, was a basic act of human kindness which should be done freely without demanding any return. For the lender to take interest on the loan would be to impoverish the borrower still further. But the “foreigner,” the man who is on a visit to the land of Israel, is not bound by this law. He will take interest on any loans he makes to Israelites so that there can be no obligation for the Israelite not to reciprocate and take interest when lending to him.

The Christian church in the Middle Ages adapted the law as it stands in the Pentateuch but understood “thy brother” as referring to other Christians and the “foreigner” to non-Christians, hence Jews were allowed to become money-lenders, with many a sorry consequence, as Jewish history shows.

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ValuJet said:

I think my favorite Joe gaffe was when he said "You can not go to a 7 Eleven or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent."

Joe's a riot.

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seebell said:

If the Democrats don't retain the White House, who will you comedians make fun of?

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AV8N said:

My thought is that perhaps he meant shyster. It fits the context.

Of course with Biden, you never know what words are gonna ooze out of his mouth (usually accompanied by finger pistols).

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seebell said:

If the Democrats don't retain the White House, who will you comedians make fun of? Better vote democratic.

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ValuJet said:

Yeah I forgot about that one.

Here's another gem. I can't say that I agree or disagree, but whatevs:

"Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be Vice President of the United States of America. Let's get that straight. She's a truly close personal friend. She is qualified to be President of the United States of America. She's easily qualified to be Vice President of the United States of America. Quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me. But she's first rate."

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